Rachel Diebel

Broadly, across all age ranges and genres, I am looking for commercial fiction with a strong, distinctive voice and characters that are impossible not to root for. I want a book to make me feel something – to make me laugh or cry, preferably both, occasionally at the same time.

I want books about all-encompassing friendships that feature confident storytelling in an immersive, escapist world, whether that’s a fantasy or a contemporary romance you want to live inside of. “Guilty pleasure” books that bring you joy while reading, and that have enough stakes to keep the pages turning.

• Books that capture the middle school voice perfectly regardless of genre – tentative explorations of newfound autonomy, testing boundaries, being in the liminal space between kid and teenager
• Adventure and fantasy stories where you just have to read another chapter before turning the light off for the night
• I am currently not looking for contemporary realistic middle grade for my list, but if you think you have a perfect project for me, please reach out.

• I want YA books that can be described as “sad soft pop songs for sissies, emo queers, and crybabies,” to steal a phrase from the band MUNA.
• Books that could be summarized as “I support women’s wrongs”
• Lowercase “h” horror – spooky, atmospheric, creepy as hell, some blood/violence is okay, but no true body horror/extreme gore
• Gothic anything – either modern gothic or more traditional gothic stories
• Spectacular settings that come alive on the page (or that actually come alive in the story…)
• Books that do something fresh and interesting interesting with format or timeline

The F&F graphic novel list is quite small and space on my list is competitive, but in general I am looking for:

• Slice of life middle grade stories with bright, bold commercial art
• YA romances that are absolutely packed to the gills with emotions – I love a good pining romance, and enemies to lovers, but happily ever afters only, please.

I am not a good fit for: Picture books, nonfiction in any age range, hard science fiction, issue-driven books, bury your gays, extreme gore/violence, low concept contemporary, trilogies or extended series, theater/music/performing arts books.

(My definition of commercial fiction: To me, commercial fiction means immediately present & accessible characters and plot where the goal of the book is to deliver a wonderful reading experience vs. the goal being to win awards/change your way of thinking about the world. Both of those things can happen in commercial fiction, but they aren’t necessarily the goal!)

Fun facts about me:

I have a tuxedo cat named Theodore and a golden retriever named Nona.

I’m originally from a very rural part of the Pacific Northwest and would love to publish a book set there!

I’m a massive hockey and women’s soccer fan and have been known to talk about professional players like they’re my best friends.